Home (Blu-ray Review)

Home is where the heart—and the highway—is.

The mosquito buzzing at night in your bedroom. A distant car alarm that won’t stop. That distracting
hum from the back of your plasma TV. The incessantly barking cocker spaniel next door and the
neighbor upstairs who wears lead shoes and apparently enjoys rearranging his furniture at three in
the morning. The midnight drip…drip…drip of the faucet. Sound can be the ultimate aggravator,
worming itself into your brain, expanding and exaggerating, fraying nerves and putting tempers on
edge...

Video

Kino International brings Home to U.S. audiences with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that’s
framed in the film’s original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The film makes a strong but understated appearance
on Blu-ray, with an un-tampered-with look that does justice to Agnes Godard’s evocative, naturalistic
cinematography. Fine detail is more than adequately reproduced here, and you can easily discern facial
texture, the threading in clothing, the knobbiness of a terrycloth towel, and even make ...

Audio

Since sound plays such a huge role in Home’s story, I expected this disc’s DTS-HD Master
Audio 5.1 surround track to be fairly robust. In a way, however, it’s curiously restrained, although I still
think that it’s successful in ratcheting the family’s ever-increasing tension. In the beginning of the film,
before the highway opens, the mix is dominated by dialog, with only hushed ambience—crickets and
airy wind, mostly—taking up residence in the rear channels. Once the roar from th...

Supplements

“Sleepless” by Ursula Meier (1080i, 33:39)
The best inclusion on the disc is Ursala Meier’s second short film, from 1998, which won awards at
several international film festivals. Do note that while the film is technically presented in 1080i, the
image is windowboxed within the frame and obviously upscaled.

Interview with the Director and Cinematographer (1080i, 32:36)
In lieu of a director’s commentary or “making of” documentary, we get an insightful conve...

Final Words

Stifling, suffocating, paranoiac—Home is a grim examination of how external forces can alter
the emotional dynamics of a family. Whatever you want to call it—environmental fable, character
study, pastoral gone claustrophobic—the film is an exceptionally strong debut from director Ursula
Meier, who coaxes yet another ravaging performance out of Isabelle Huppert and teams up with
cinematographer Agnes Godard to paint an increasingly bleak family portrait. This is another great
rel......

Read full review: Blu-ray.com

Go here to read the rest:
Home (Blu-ray Review)